‘Faces of Valor II’ debuts at public library on Saturday

The debut of the second volume of "Faces of Valor," honoring Montgomery County veterans, was celebrated at the Clarksville Downtown Kiwanis Club on Tuesday. Club president Tom Creech and Memories of Service and Sacrifice Committee member Ron Smithfield presented Jostens representatives Sherry Brame and Terry Cleveland with an award recognizing the company's contribution in making the project a reality. / THE LEAF-CHRONICLE/PHILIP GREY

Contributed by Phil Grey, The Leaf Chronicle

After a long wait and a lot of work, “Faces of Valor – Volume II” will finally became available to the public on Saturday during a special event at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library.

The event will begin at 10 a.m. and will last until approximately 3 p.m.
The latest booklet — printed through the generosity of Jostens Printing and Publishing’s Clarksville facility — features pictures of 387 Montgomery County veterans, with information on each, spanning 150 years of history from the Civil War to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Families and veterans who contributed photos and information will receive a free copy of the booklet. All they will have to do is sign for a copy at a table that will be manned by representatives of the Kiwanis Memories of Service and Sacrifice Committee.
Additional copies will be available for veterans, families and members of the general public for a suggested donation of $10.

Copies will also be available for $10 through the Montgomery County Historical Society at the Clarksville Railroad Station, as well as at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Museum.

The booklet has some amazing and often surprising examples of Montgomery County’s rich military history, and each veteran portrayed has a connection to the area as a former resident.

Among the notables:

• Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Horace Lurton, who served as a sergeant major in the 5th Tennessee, Army of the Tennessee, Confederate States of America, during the Civil War.
• Carl Sory Smith, a Marine Corps veteran of World War I and a Leaf-Chronicle political cartoonist.
• Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., 10th Army Commander, killed in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, who was the highest-ranking officer to be killed in action in World War II. Buckner’s father, Simon Bolivar Buckner Sr., was the Confederate general who surrendered Fort Donelson to Ulysses S. Grant in February 1862.
• Edgar Harrell, a Marine Corps veteran of World War II and one of the few remaining survivors of the infamous sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the ship that carried the atomic bomb components to Tinian Island.
• Frank Sutton, best known for his portrayal of Sgt. Vince Carter on the hit 60s show, “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” Sutton was also a U.S. Army veteran of the Pacific Theater in World War II, with 14 assault landings to his credit.

Also included in the booklet are listings of Montgomery County residents killed in action in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

The Faces of Valor Project began as a display in honor of 244 Montgomery County veterans from the Revolutionary War to the present, permanently located inside the courthouse.

The first Faces of Valor booklet was printed as a guide to the veterans portrayed in the display.

‘Interview a Veteran’ essay winners honored by Clarksville Kiwanis Club

On Tuesday afternoon, the Downtown Kiwanis Club's Memories of Service and Sacrifice Project honored five High School-level winners of the 2011 "Interview a Veteran" essay contest. From left to right, Seth Sitter, Clarksville Academy; Ron Smithfield; Grand High School Winner Autumn Brown, Clarksville High School; Elizabeth Hickman, Fort Campbell High School; Kayla Clark, Northwest High School; Maria Boyer, Kenwood High School and Debbie McGaha-Bratton.

(from The Leaf Chronicle, 11/10/11)

Clarksville’s Downtown Kiwanis Club honored 12 middle and high school students on Tuesday for Veterans Day essays they submitted for this year’s “Interview a Veteran” contest.

However, in terms of educational value, there were many more winners than that among the 616 students who participated area-wide.

Contest judge Debbie McGaha-Bratton said that the yearly event is more than an eye-opening experience for many of the participants — often, it is a life-changing experience.

Many students opt to interview family members with military experience, little realizing how amazing that experience often is. Likewise, the interview situation may be the first time that the family member has spoken openly to the student about life-shaping events.

Even for those students who interview outside of their families, the experience often becomes something much more meaningful than the student anticipated.

At Tuesday’s luncheon, besides the members of the Kiwanis and the students, there were also many veteran interviewees present, as well as educators and other family members there to listen as the authors of the winning essays read portions of their work aloud.

Mostly, what the essays conveyed was a connection to something beyond the textbook descriptions of war and of military life.

The stories mostly centered around ordinary individuals who found themselves in extraordinary events and who never considered themselves to be heroes, although it was apparent in the words of the essays that the students thought otherwise.

Clarksville High School student Autumn Brown was both a Grand Prize Winner and the winner of “most inspirational” essay for a piece she wrote about an incredible Special Forces soldier, Chief Warrant Officer Scott A. Schroeder, who lost both legs in war but not his spirit to go on and rebuild his life.

Clarksville Academy eighth-grade student Grace Hinson was a Grand Prize winner for an essay that captured the sacrifice and love of country of her grandfather, who fought in Korea.

The essay contest, now in its 11th year, is part of a Kiwanis effort called the “Memories of Service and Sacrifice Project,” which also has produced two “Faces of Valor” booklets honoring the more than 200 years of service of Clarksville/Montgomery County veterans.

Philip Grey, 245-0719
Military affairs reporter
philipgrey@theleafchronicle.com